Egypt has been trying to broker a cease-fire agreement between the Islamist Hamas organization and Israel, in what an Egyptian official told TV7 “aims to alleviate tensions, pave the way for the Gaza Strip’s reconstruction and ultimately, set a much-needed foundation for a viable solution,” to the decades old conflict. In a move that initially pointed to a possible breakthrough, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to postpone a scheduled trip to Colombia. Nevertheless, after a meeting of Hamas’s political leadership that resulted in an agreement to Egypt’s proposed cease-fire, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused to the Egyptians’ “compromise proposal”, which includes – among others – the payment of salaries Gazan employees by the Palestinian Authority and the assumption of responsibility over the Palestinian enclave, thus distancing the chances for an intra-Palestinian reconciliation.
Meanwhile in Jerusalem, the Israeli government’s security cabinet convened for five hours yesterday to discuss the possible ceasefire agreement. Nevertheless, members of the security cabinet reached the conclusion last night that the chances for a broad and long-term arrangement in the Gaza Strip are slim. The meeting, which also included a situation update from IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, ended with the understanding that there were too many obstacles on the path to an arrangement and it is doubtful that there would be any way to overcome them. It is for this reason that no decisions were made, and the members of the security cabinet were not asked to vote on approving Israel’s part of the arrangement.